Page 84 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
Carolina twisted a dial on Zhara’s board. “I can
rebroadcast her hum through the old cables,” she
said. “Piggyback the city’s bones.”
“Do it,” Zhara said.
Zhara’s crew threw knife switches that had been
hand-polished by three generations of smugglers.
The rooftop vibrated. Sera’s tone threaded every
conduit, every rusted wire, every pigeon skeleton
nesting under satellite dishes.
On the skyline, Sofia’s mouth slowed.
“No—”
The single syllable wavered like a pane of hot
air.
Henry leaned into the edge of the roof. “Again,”
he said to Sera.
She didn’t answer in words. She answered in
breath. Her tone shifted slightly off-perfect—as if
refusing to become a machine. The Curator’s image
acquired a faint double, like a TV not quite tuned.
“Noise,” Sofia said gently. “Pretty.”
Carolina’s board popped; a fuse blew; Hafid
swore. The power sagged. Zhara slammed a spare
fuse home blind and bloody-fingered. The board
woke like a struck animal.
“Enough,” Sofia said.
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